Strange Omens
by D'AngelineHeroine13
Summary: Modern AU where Peeta has dreams of another life that takes him to compete in the Hunger Games with a beautiful girl he's never met before. Whoever the girl is, he knows she's in danger and as his dreams progress so does her dire situation. It's a race against time to find and save the love of his lives. Will have graphic depictions of violence in later chapters. (Temporary hiatus)
1. Chapter 1

Untitled AUHGFF

_'Here again?' _ Peeta thought to himself, as he stared at the odd woman on stage.

He saw this place, this crowd, this woman every night. He saw her painted lips moving at the microphone but couldn't hear her. Cameras were surrounding the crowd at all angles and a massive screen stood onstage, playing some strange footage. He glanced around; he didn't know any of these people...Oh! There, behind him, he saw his brothers standing in different groups. Why did they look so worried?...

There was a commotion to his right. His heart started pounding when his gaze rested on the girl in the middle of the foray. She was forcing herself between men in white uniforms. She was screaming but there was still no noise. How anyone could terrorize someone so beautiful was beyond Peeta's imaginings.

Finally the uniformed men parted and let the girl pass them. Peeta watched her walk toward the stage; she held her head high, the crowd kissed three fingers on their left hands and turned them toward her. Peeta followed suit even without knowing why, or what it meant. He just knew that he saw hope on the girl's face and wanted to be a part of it.

Looking at her face, knowledge suddenly swept over him. He knew every nuance of her expressions. He wasn't sure how but he knew that through her show of bravado, through the hope, the girl -no, _HIS_ girl!- was terrified. Confusion muddled his mind, until he realized everyone was staring at him. They all looked at him with pity and relief.

He looked to his brothers who were wide-eyed with surprise. Peeta watched the surprise fade to fear and...sadness? _What?_

Peeta glanced at the screen. It showed his confused face as he glanced around.

"Oh!" He had said it out loud, he was sure, but he heard nothing. _"It must be my turn to go up there," _he realized. Panic and fright flooded his system, though he had no idea why he was scared. He took a step to join his girl on the stage in front of a crowd of thousands.

Peeta jerked awake, sweat covered his body, His blonde hair was dark with it and his heart slammed in his chest from the terror still coursing through him.

"What a dream," he said to himself.

His voice seemed far too loud.


	2. Chapter 2

He was on a train. And he knew that girl was here somewhere with him so he went searching.

Before he could find her he suddenly found himself sitting at a table covered with decadent foods. He looked up to find three other people sitting in the room with him. The strangely dressed woman from the stage, a man and the girl. His heart beat faster when he saw her.

She was talking to the man and had a sneaking suspicion he had been too since his mouth was moving and they both looked at him. There was still no sound but the conversation continued. The girl was getting angry. He startled when he saw her nearly cut the mans fingers off and looked at her face. Again, it was like he knew what she was thinking and with a surety that astounded him, he knew she wouldn't have missed if cutting off fingers had been her goal.

He watched her look up to the other woman who was yelling something. Something that he felt was probably absolutely ridiculous and funny.

Then he was standing in a room, naked, surrounded by people who were yanking and pulling at various parts of his body, but he knew he shouldn't move. They were cutting his hair. They bathed him over and over again.

The people beautifying his body were dressed similarly to the woman from the stage. They're constant fawning over him was silly, but even without voices he thought he might like them.

Peeta was in his bed. After nearly two weeks the dreams had finally changed. It wasn't nearly as frightening as the other, but still just as strange. He was pretty sure he was dreaming of things that have never existed.

He tried to sleep again but knew it would be just as fruitless as sleeping after the other dreams. After only a quarter of an hour, Peeta got up to get yet another early start to his day.

Hours later at his bakery downtown, Peeta was talking to his best friend and business partner, Delly Cartwright. "I finally followed your advice," he said, while smashing dough against the countertop.

Delly looked up from the inventory lists she was checking and stared at him. "And which bit of advice did you decide to follow? I really hope it was the going a date bit I've been talking to you about. I know a really sweet girl-"

"I hired someone to take part of the workload from me. I'll start training him today. And no, I will not be going on any dates. Thank you." He smiled up at her, winking. "Wouldn't wanna take any time away from you, anyway."

Delly laughed but concern flooded her face as she really took a look at him. "Are you okay? You look...tired."

"Oh, thanks. That sounded exactly like _'You look like absolute crap,'_" he said, sarcasm and laughter lacing his voice. He began rolling out the dough to cinnamon and sugar for the cinnamon buns. They sold more of them than anything else and with his secret ingredient it didn't surprise him.

Delly put the clipboard and all her paperwork for the day on the counter and leaned over it to stare directly at his face. "What's going on?" she asked.

Peeta huffed at her. "Wow. I must really look terrible for you to express such con- Hey! Get off the counter! It has to be clean!"

Delly rolled her eyes and lifted herself and the papers away from his precious, still clean counter. "Don't change the subject. Tell me what's wrong with you. Now." She used her no nonsense voice and knew Peeta was more likely to listen to her when she applied it.

He stood up straight, and leaned away from the counter finally. He pulled his hands away from the dough and wiped his face, making a mental note to wash them before he touched the food again. "Alright. Fine. ...I've been having weird dreams for a while now so I've lost a little sleep. Not much, but it's been over the course of a couple weeks so I guess it's catching up to me." He smiled tiredly. "It'll be fine. I went to the doctor and they prescribed something to help suppress the dreaming." At her disapproving look he repeated, "It. Will. Be. Fine."

Peeta's new cashier was scheduled to come in soon now that the daily stock was filled and the small, carryout only diner was about to open. Peeta got the small amount of cash for change out of the safe to put in the register just as the bell over the back entrance rang out.

"I'm at the front," he called out. "Come on up, Rory, and we'll get you started at the register."

Rory hung his jacket up on one of the hooks by the back door and headed up toward his new employer with a joking smile on his face. "Don't people usually teach you how to cook before they start trusting you with their money?"

Peeta looked back and gave Rory a responding grin. "I'd trust a stranger with my money long before I trusted one with my recipes!"

Peeta and Rory got along well through the day and Rory did everything he could to make things easier on his new employer. He caught on quickly to computer's order system and cleaned during slow periods. He even brought in extra people in from the street out front when the diner was completely empty.

Since Delly always took care of the business side of things, Peeta was able to do nothing but cook all day. He was almost at a loss as to what to do with all that time but the break it gave his body was worth it. He must have been more tired than he realized; it just hadn't occured to him because he kept himself so busy at the diner.

After closing time, while Delly did closing paperwork and counted the profits from the register, Rory helped Peeta clean the kitchen. Conversation flowed easily, despite the four year age difference. In the two hours it took to get all the kitchen counters, floors and appliances cleaned the two almost felt like they'd been friends for much longer than a day.

"What are you and Delly doing tonight?" Rory asked after a rare lull in conversation. He was pulling his jacket on by the back door, Peeta was balancing two recycling bins to carry out and Delly was walking toward them from the office.

"Well," Peeta grunted with the effort of pulling them both off the floor, then said, "I have no idea what Delly is doing, but I'm going home for some much needed sleep." The end of his declaration found a can or two falling from the top bin.

Delly stooped to pick them up and smiled at Peeta, shook them in his face, then placed them back in the bin, more to the middle so they didn't fall again. She knew he wouldn't accept help, however, so she just left it at that.

"Sleep?" Rory asked, almost indignantly. "You're twenty-three and it's only nine on a weekend. Well, weekend for you since you're closed on Mondays. Delly," he said, turning to her and gesturing back at Peeta. "You convince the guy!" He dropped his hand and continued, "There's a small party at my girlfriend's house tonight. Kind of intimate, a couple of people your age, a few people ours,...only a few underage drinkers...but good music, good food -almost as good as yours, Peeta. Prim likes cooking fairly well. Oh, but don't tell her I said it wasn't quite as delicious as your food, Peet. She might not take it too well!" he laughed, no realizing how off topic he'd gotten.

Peeta and Delly just looked at each other, shaking their heads in good humor as Rory finally got his laughter under control and said "Well? You shouldn't miss it."

"I'll come," Delly finally said, shrugging her shoulders. "Afterall, I'm only twenty-three, it's only nine on a weekend for me..."

"See, Peeta?!" Rory exclaimed. "Your girl comes, you come." He smiled triumphantly. And the smile slowly faded as Peeta and Delly laughed uproarously at him. "You aren't dating are you?" he asked.

Delly met Rory's girlfriend, Prim and their friends and families. She was even asked on a date, something that hadn't really happened in quite some time. She was having a wonderful night.

At the same time, back in his apartment above the diner, Peeta was in bed. Despite his really trying not to and despite having taken the medication his doctor gave him, he succumbed to more strange dreams. And these dreams had him tossing and turning, crying out in his sleep. They didn't show much but they were filled with emotions. The flashes he got were of himself, the girl and more people he had never met before. They were all in a forest and he was scared. Every flash was confusing and terrifying. He woke in a sweat.

The dream repeated, never getting any clearer, for weeks.


	3. Chapter 3

_**AN: **__I recently read that you shouldn't actually suppress dreams because you need the REM (dream cycle) of sleep for a good night's sleep ...My bad. I've fixed that part in the last chapter to say that the drug is actually a sleeping tablet that will override the constant waking caused by the dreams Peeta has._

_**AN2:**__ Also, this is really just a filler chapter, but kind of necessary._

SO3

Peeta saw the reflection of his face in the cool water. He looked like he was sixteen again but he could see knowledge in his eyes cast back at him, a look of defeat, that he had never seen on himself before.

He could feel immense pain in his lower left leg but fatigue and hunger ruled his body. Fear was hanging dominantly over all of this, though. As he painted himself into the landscape, not knowing why, he couldn't decide if the terror was for his own life or _hers._

For over a week Peeta dreamed of the riverbank. He dreamed of lonliness, pain; he dreamed that he was silently begging for death to steal him away and give the girl a better chance at getting out.

Nineteen days into these dreams he went to see his doctor for the fourth time, at Delly's behest. She told Peeta that he was looking haggard and unkempt. Not to mention the exhaustion which barely allowed him to work. Delly had to force him to eat a few times when weariness dictated he skip meals and nap at work instead. The bakery seemed to be the only time he could get a dreamless sleep and Peeta sent up silent prayers of thanks daily that Delly had convinced him to hire help.

So he went to see Dr Howell again and they spoke at length about his dreams; Peeta giving every detail he could to the elderly doctor.

Seeder Howell had been his doctor since he was thirteen and had stopped seeing his pediatrician. After ten years of her caring for all his medical needs, Peeta felt quite close to her and didn't hold back even the strangest parts of the dreams. They spoke about the tiring effect of the dreams and the fact that they persisted even with a high dose of the drug that should have helped him sleep through them.

Dr Howell had rarely heard of a person waking after taking the very concentrated amounts of sleeping tablets she'd prescribed him over his last few visits. Peeta was like family to for the old woman; She'd seen him through the mental abuse that his mother visited upon him in his teen years, the broken arm that he got during a bicycle stunt he and his brothers tried, two bouts with the flu and even a cancer scare. Somehow, however, she was sure after all the failed attempts to help him, which included diet and exercise changes, and an anti-depressant along with the sleeping pills, there weren't many options left for medicinal help.

"Peeta," Seeder began after hearing him out, "I don't think there's much I can keep doing for you." She watched his face fall, but pulled a card out of her desk drawer before she continued. "I have an aquaintance, well...a med school friend actually, who might be able to assist you. She has a natural remedy store downtown."

After a small debate on whether natural remedies were a real source for relief of ailments , Dr Howell sent Peeta on his way with a somewhat less doubtful disposition than he'd started with. He was even feeling kind of perky after her assurances and hopefulness. At least until he had started out the door and she called after him.

"Peeta!" she paused then said, "Don't be put off by the...quirkiness. She really may be able to help."

Despite his reservations, Peeta walked into _Sae's Blend _with a positive outlook. He trusted Dr Howell, so the least he could do was give it a try. Besides, he was already losing an impressive amount of sleep, it couldn't do him much harm at this point.

The store was lined floor to ceiling with shelves that were filled with all kinds of different plants. An elderly woman behind the counter was the only person in the small shop. She was mixing ingredients together, some of which Peeta recognized as things he used at the bakery or in his own kitchen.

When the bell over the door signaled his arrival the woman -Sae, he assumed- looked up and gave him a toothy grin.

"Welcome!" she sang out happily. "Looking for something in particular?"

Peeta smiled back, affected by her bubbliness, and asked for her help in finding something to help him sleep.

Strangely, instead of leading him to her products, she began asking a series of questions.

"What's keeping you from sleeping, dear?"

"Is the reason important?" he asked, keeping the smile on his face so he didn't take the chance of offending her.

"Well, of course it is! I'd need to supply you with different ingredients, depending on what's keeping you awake. Are you ill? Flu-ish, perhaps? You look flu-ish." A look of almost motherly concern crossed her features as she said this and Peeta found himself hard-pressed to keep from chuckling at her.

"No, no flu-"

"Stress?"

"Not particularly."

She leaned in and asked conspiratorially, "Digestive issues?"

This time he couldn't hold the laughter in check and his head tilted back as the sound climbed up his throat and parted his lips. "Not at all! Just some bad dreams," he replied when he was finally able to choke back the giggles.

She grinned at him again and led him to some of the shelves. "That one always gets a different reaction, you know," she informed him as she began searching the shelves. "Some look at me as if I've said I'd like their firstborn for lunch!" she quipped.

She located whatever bags she had been looking for then led him away again to the counter at the side of the store. "But you-" she layed the bags by the register and walked around to begin mixing things together, "I knew you'd be a chuckler!"

Then, suddenly, her manner changed on a dime. Instantly she was as professional as any CEO and began listing all of the things she was mixing into the bag for him. She told him to boil a tablespoon of the dried ingredients in two cups of water and drink it a half hour before bed and after he paid she sent him on his way.

That night, after following Sae's instructions, he went to his room and changed into a pair of pajama pants, leaving his torso and feet bare. He lay in his bed with the latest Alex Cross novel, intending to get a few chapters in, but he was sleeping deeply in less than ten minutes.

The next morning Peeta woke with the alarm clock. He lay there for a few seconds, getting his bearings, when it occured it to him that he hadn't dreamed or woken once through the night.


End file.
